New At EQ3

I’m really digging the new EQ3 catalogue. It hit my inbox a while back along with an invitation to check out the new EQ3 store in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighbourhood next week. I’m looking forward to seeing the pages of the catalogue come to life and seeing the Marimekko shop-in-shop.

The catalogue feels like a beautiful coffee table book. The photography and styling are lovely. I have it on good authority that it is the work of EQ3 creative director and Winnipegger Thom Fougere in collaboration with Zurich and London-based photographers Véronique Hoegger and Nicole Bachmann. Well done, I say. Here are some of my favourite photos and products.

A deep blue sofa — why not? It looks so inviting thanks to the haphazard arrangement of cushions and the casually draped throw. I wonder how many times they fussed with the throw before they got it just like this? I like to think it just happened this way. Love that grey chair, too — the Valentin. It’s a perfect small space choice that can move from dining table to desk to living room.

EQ3’s merch includes the company’s own designs, like the Tobi Modbox storage system, which I think is genius. I dream about doing a wall of these in my house to sort out my massive magazine collection and my personal prop department (so many vases!). Also on offer at EQ3 are wares from world-renowned modern makers like Vitra, Magis, Stelton and Ton — the original Thonet factory in the Czech Republic, which makes this classic café chair that I have an ongoing crush on.

I’m seeing the cobalt blue colour of this chair pop up on my radar lately. I’m embracing it as an antidote to the overdoses of too-sweet turquoise I have been subjected to in recent years. This is the Vitra Tip Ton chair. With it is the Frame desk. The $149 price tag means you can afford to add a custom cut glass top so you can tuck photos and other ephemera underneath to make a pretty display. That’s what I’d do. Again, love the styling here: Interesting bits, just enough, not too much.

I sure wish I were invited to this brunch. It looks so delicious and fun. If I had to make a critique I’d say I wish I could see a couple of napkins for a little softness here, but I can easily look past that to drool over the cheese. Plain white dishware has never looked so luscious! And I need one of those wooden boards, stat.

Here are a few more EQ3 faves:

I’m always a sucker for stripes, but I appreciate the looser design of the lines on the Nautical rug, 100% wool, 8′ x 10′, $600.

The Reverie loveseat looks plucked from the lobby of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (or will it be Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Harris?), but I’m picturing it as a breath of fresh air for the TV room in the basement of my Toronto bungalow. From $1,249.

The Simone dinette table is a 36″ diameter pedestal table with a marble top for $400. This is the kind of piece you could splurge on for your first place but keep forever and find a new spot for it in every home. It’s a modern design that can blend in with traditional surroundings to give a room a little style kick.